


November Drabbles

by 11_Gadget_27



Series: Mercenary!AU [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Gen, M/M, Other, i can tell you right now that some chapters will be NSFW, i don't yet know what's gonna happen so I'll adjust and add tags as I need to, like OC-tober there will be a lot of time jumping, month long exercise, single word writing prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 14,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27327766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/11_Gadget_27/pseuds/11_Gadget_27
Summary: The OC-tober single word writing prompts were so much fun I decided to do one for November. Taking place in my Mercenary!AU and following Mav as well as a few other characters again this time. That is to say I'm planning not to have every chapter from his POV again but we'll see.
Relationships: Mav/Sept, Mav/other ocs
Series: Mercenary!AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932319
Comments: 60
Kudos: 5





	1. Day 1: Cornered

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the prompt lists I made here: https://crassussativum.tumblr.com/post/633088039549288448/november-2020-single-word-writing-prompts

Cipritine, Palaven: 2193

The biotics held him completely immobile against the wall and Sept’s weight on his back kept his breath short. “Got you,” His lover teased, mouth touching the back of his neck and his hands reaching around to wander his front.

“You cheated to get me,” Mav chuckled in return, struggling playfully against that press of biotics keeping him in place. It wasn’t any use, Sept had all the control and power here. And Mav honestly enjoyed that. He liked a lover that could pin him down and keep him there. The use of biotics was still cheating though. 

“Just a little,” Sept laughed quietly. “You make it really hard to get a grip on you.”

“I’ve got somethin’ hard you can get a grip on.” The biotic snorted a laugh against his skin but Mav grinned as his hands started wandering lower with a little more purpose. Then he moaned.

“Oh, you do....” Sept kissed the back on his neck and then leaned up to nip at the ends of his fringe, his hand groping. “Really hard, too.”

Fuck, that felt so good, even through the pants and Mav couldn’t even roll his hips into the touch with the way the biotics held him. He wanted to, Spirits, he wanted to and he tried, struggling against the power but Sept didn’t let up at all.

“Relax,” He chuckled.

“Kinda can’t with your hand on me like that,” Mav panted, already so worked up and needy. “You just gonna tease me, babe?” 

“I’m not gonna just tease you.” Sept told him, stepping up against his back, bodies flush together and he was hard too. “You want me to fuck you against the wall or on the floor?”

Spirits, what an offer... Mav grinned. “Wall first and then floor.” He said without missing a beat.

The biotic snorted again. “I can _so_ do that.” He said and now his wandering and groping hands were working open Mav’s pants and shoving them halfway down his thighs.

Mav struggled against the press of biotics again, trying to present himself to Sept or offer himself up or roll his hips back... Anything! But he still couldn’t manage to break his lover’s concentration enough to make that happen. It left him growling a little in frustration and need. Here Sept had taken the time and effort to playfully corner him and all he could do was... Oh. Duh. Mav chuckled a little. He could be really stupid sometimes.

“What’re you laughing at?” Sept asked, fully naked now and pressed up along his back, erection sliding over his ass, tip touching his entrance.

“Nothin’, I’m an idiot. Just realized you got me completely at your mercy.”

“Yeah. Kinda the point.” The biotic chuckled with him, running hands all over, down his belly and thighs, back up to grip his hips firmly. The biotics themselves causing a lot of pleasant tingles along the way. 

“Mhm,” Mav agreed, smiling, waiting even though he felt like he was burning up. “You corner me and pin me with your magic and I can’t do anythin’ but let you fuck me stupid.”

“Exactly,” Sept laughed and ground against him. Firm rolls of his hips and Spirits, it felt so good. “You gonna scream for me?”

Oh, so he was in that kind of mood... “Fuck me and find out, babe.”

Sept snorted a laugh again and kissed the back of his neck softly even as the hold on his hips changed, became demanding as he was yanked back with biotics too. Sept’s thick length forcing him to stretch open, filling him in a single thrust and Mav did scream for him. All pleasure and need, held in place, filled over and over as Sept took him there against the wall and made him cum without even touching his length, filling him full of it at the same time. And then the floor, Spirits, the floor...

Mav was all moans and needy keens as Sept pinned him down on it. His hands scrambling for some kind of purchase, some kind of leverage to push back against the thrusts into his body. Sept took that little bit of control away from him too. Knocking his hands out from under him, pushing his torso nearly flat to the floor and taking a grip with his teeth on the back of his neck. Fucking him fast and hard and deep and all Mav could do was moan and let him. Sept’s biotics pulsing inside him and a hand pumping around his length had Mav screaming through another release in no time.

“You sound so good right now,” Sept panted, still working into him, balanced on his knees and pulling at Mav’s hips to meet his thrusts.

He laughed all breathless. “You feel so good right now,” He shot back.

“Oh, you feel good too,” He dragged out of Mav slowly and slammed back in. Then did it again, yanking on his hips. “Spirits... so hot and wet... Oh, fuck Mavic.”

Sept had finally lost that iron focus on his biotics and Mav found that he could move more freely again. He took advantage of that, rolling his hips to meet Sept’s thrusts, taking him impossibly deeper and moaned, rubbing his foreplate on the floor.

“Spirits,” The biotic murmured again, going a little bit faster, pulsing inside him.

“That’s it babe, c’mon,” Mav purred, rocking to meet him until Sept stilled his hips again, pulled out of him. “What?”

“Wanna look at you.” He said, pushing at Mav’s hip until he’d gotten him to roll over onto his back. Then Sept yanked his pants of the rest of the way and tossed them somewhere, sliding back between his legs, pushing back into his wet and stretched hole. 

“Oh, fuck babe,” Mav moaned and slid his arms around him, holding his legs spread wide so Sept could get deep. “Fuck...”

“Fuck,” Sept agreed with a soft laugh, leaning down to kiss him as he built up their rhythm again, letting Mav move with him this time. But it wasn’t long until he was pounding down into him again, swollen and pulsing and right on his edge... And then he broke with a few last frantic thrusts and Mav did too, crying out his name again.

“...holy Spirits,” Mav murmured, kissing Sept softly and nuzzling their heads together. “I reckon biotics in bed is somethin’ we can add to the list of things to do a lotta.”

Sept laughed quietly, leaving little nips and kisses all over his throat and then his mouth again. “I’d figured you’d be into it.”

“Very into it.” He purred, kissing Sept back and chuckling. Spirits but he was exhausted now. “You lil’ sex fiend.”

The biotic snorted, rolling to his side and then his back next to him. “Pretty sure you’re the little sex fiend. Like literally. Also pretty sure I saw some cuffs in your room.”

Mav narrowed his eyes playfully. “You snoopin’ through my stuff?”

“I stumbled across them looking for a pen.” Sept said easily, leaning in one hand and brandishing the other. It glowed blue. “I don’t need cuffs.”

He laughed. “Spirits, nah you don’t.” 


	2. Day 2: Dream

Cipritine, Palaven: 2196

“She’s got your eyes,” Sept said, staring with awe down at the bundled infant in the nest of blankets and pillows of the hospital cradle.

Mav stood next to him, his mandibles quivering with emotion he couldn’t put a name to. Or too many to properly identify. Awe was there, pride, a sense of protectiveness, worry, love... Spirits, she had his eyes. Another tiny little Virim. _Their_ tiny little Virim. He linked his fingers with Sept’s without thought and held tightly.

“And my nose.” His mate laughed quietly, his voice dipping into a soft coo. “Hi there, sweetie. Oh aren’t you just the cutest?”

Mav wiped his eyes with his free hand and cleared his throat. He felt like he was floating and falling at the same time. “What’re we gonna name her?”

Sept turned and smiled at him but Mav woke before he got the answer. Curled on his side with Sept still asleep behind him, their legs tangled comfortably. The bedroom window was open and though it had cooled with sundown, their room was still pleasantly hot. Comfortable. Mav shifted just a little to see his mate’s face, to watch him sleep until he couldn’t take not knowing anymore.

“Sept,” He whispered. “Babe.”

The biotic’s mandibles fluttered and he blinked a few times, waking before settling again. “What?”

Mav licked his lips, his own mandibles fluttering. Mating Sept had awoken so many wants he hadn’t known he’d had. Like that biological urge for a family all his own, a daughter with his eyes and Sept’s smile. Or children. Spirits, he’d never thought he would want children before...

“If we had a daughter, what would you name her?”

“What?” Sept asked again, blinking at him some more.

Mav repeated himself. “I’m just curious.”

Sept nuzzled at their pillow and then him, drawing him a little closer. “I’d call her Elysia.”

“Elysia...”

“Mhm.”

Mav rolled over and tucked his face in Sept’s throat, breathing in the scent of eezo and safety and his mate. “I like it,” He murmured, starting to purr. 


	3. Day 3: Sleep

Cipritine, Palaven: 2187

Mav hadn’t experienced many sleepless nights in his life. A few here and there, sure. Like his very first night on Palaven during Relay 314. The first time he’d spent the night with a friend, or even that first night in an actual barracks. All to be expected and eventually, he had fallen asleep. As was also to be expected.

He’d managed to sleep that night Desolas had come back from Shanxi and his parents hadn’t. He’d even managed to sleep after he’d been spaced and had technically died. Mav had slept the night he’d covered Ailuros’ body with a soiled sheet, if only thanks to blood loss and horosk. He’d spent a few days asleep after Nival had gutted him.

Now that he was home, healing and safe, Mav couldn’t sleep. He’d thought at first that the apartment was too quiet when he was used to the sounds of his ship. An open window and the sounds of Cipritine at night had fixed that. At least, it would have if that had been the problem. Mav had then reasoned he just wasn’t tired enough for sleep. But after all the exercise the doctors currently allowed him to do, he found that lack of tiredness wasn’t the problem either.

He tried to read but the words swam and ranged between nonsense and too boring to really hold his attention. He tried to eat because maybe a full stomach would lull him but the liquid diet his doctor had prescribed just didn’t fill him the same way. Mav tried to watch a little tv too, but that went the same way as reading in no time. He was left lying in bed in the dark and just waiting for sleep to take him.

How long he waited, Mav wasn’t sure, but it became apparent that it was just as fruitless as everything else he’d tried. Only now, he felt no motivation to leave the bed. Mav sighed, sore and tired and just wanting to sleep. It wasn’t until the sun rose that Mav realized why he couldn’t. It had been the first night that he was completely by himself in several months. No doctors, no friends to call and Crassus wasn’t sleeping on the cot next to his. It had never occurred to him that he couldn’t sleep because he was lonely. Tomorrow, he’d go to Desloas’ and fix that.


	4. Day 4: Vessel

Hierarchy Space: 2174

“...Spirits...” Mav breathed. He’d seen dreadnoughts before but never up close and never one as big as the Blackwatch’s Indomitable. It was the Hierarchy’s flagship, a marvel of turian engineering and ingenuity and easily the biggest structure he’d ever seen. Not counting the Citadel or a Mass Relay but those were on a scale all their own. This was a vessel his own people had built, it was different, marvelous.

He shifted his bag between his feet on the shuttle floor and tried to tear his eyes away from the nearest viewport. He must look foolish staring out the window with his mandibles spread in wonder and mouth gaping like a little kid. It _was_ still just a ship even if it was the most amazing ship he’d seen.

Mav glanced around him once he’d gained his composure again. He was one of maybe fifteen new cadets on the shuttle along with a whole regimen of returning Operatives. And the returning Operatives... Spirits, they were some of the most badass-looking folks he’d ever seen even out of that distinct matte black armor. The off duty uniform was matte black too, and streamlined to fit like a second skin. Mav would honestly call it sexy. He took a covert peak down at himself. He wasn’t wearing any kind of uniform, off duty or otherwise, but his last official posting had been with Hastatim and that uniform still smelled like smoke. He hadn’t wanted to travel in it, so it was just one of Saren’s too big coats over a nice shirt and some jeans over old boots. He looked... yeah, he _really l_ ooked like he came from the Carthaan countryside never-mind his paint and accent. Mav was starting to feel a little out of place.

He found his attention caught by the viewport again, at the Indomitable getting closer and closer until all he could see were the doors of the shuttle bay as they prepared to dock with the dreadnought. Mav grabbed his bag from between his feet and pulled it onto his shoulder, secured the strap across his chest and took a deep breath. _There_ was the nervous tension he’d been waiting for, that feeling of taking a giant leap with no idea where the ground was.

A big hand landed on his shoulder as he stepped into the hangar and made him jump near out of his boots. “Hey pint size, you lost?”

Mav’s mandibles flared and he turned, looking at the other cadet that towered over him by nearly two feet. Russet plated and gold tatted, he didn’t recognize the colony paint at all, but he could tell the other man was younger than he was. And... to be fair, he did look like a kid. “Nah, just lookin’ for my dad.” He said dryly with a tone that told the bigger turian to watch himself. 

The other cadet flared his mandibles back at him and then burst out laughing. “I’m Alexae.”

“I’m Mav,” He said in return, offering his hand and a grin.He didn’t know it then, but Alexae was going to end up being one of his closest friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexae doesn't belong to me, he belongs to https://www.furaffinity.net/user/auguscus.acilcolus


	5. Day: Anomaly

Hierarchy Outpost, Thracia: 2181

Sept always got sick when monsoon season began on his homeworld, when it was wet and cold and still somehow humid. Typically he developed a runny nose and then a cold. Once or twice when he’d been a child it had turned into pneumonia but it had never been anything like what he was dealing with now. A headache that lasted for days and wouldn’t go away no matter what he took for it. An endless appetite where he couldn’t seem to get his stomach full at all and this weird ache in his hands. Sept was so very tired even thought he managed to sleep through most nights.

It had to be the flu or something. Weird body aches were common with that and it was his first year back on Thracia since he’d graduated bootcamp. He just wasn’t used to the weather anymore and that was why this sickness was hitting him harder. He’d get over it in a few more days.

Only a few days had passed and that headache had spread down his neck into his shoulders. The ache in his hands had traveled up his forearms to meet with the lingering pain of his head. And he still didn’t have a runny nose, oddly enough. Sept wished, if he were going to get really sick, that his body would get with the program and just let it happen so that he could start getting better. 

And then Sept witnessed the first sparks jump between the fingers of one hand. Blue and nebulous, bringing with it the smell of sand struck by lightning... Biotics. He’d panicked so fully at the sight that he’d hyperventilated, passed out and struck his head. When he’d woken later with one of the outpost CO’s standing over him, Sept knew his life was about to change drastically and not for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd wanted to do more with this one, but my brain went belly up at the last moment and I'm not quite in Sept's head enough to write him the way I see him.


	6. Day 6: Hide

Cipritine, Palaven: 2203

“Ailuros?” Sept called again, a playful tilt to his tones as he bent and peaked under the child’s bed. No luck finding him there, just some socks, a few shirts and a stuffed animal or two. Sept grabbed out the dirty clothes and dropped them in the laundry basket on his way out of the room. He stood in the doorway a moment with his hands on his hips.

There weren’t necessarily a lot of places to hide in the apartment but Ailuros was _good_ at this game. Mavic had been the one to show him the few best places to hide and how to keep moving, how to do it quietly. With Mavic’s background in infiltration, teaching their son the advanced nuances of hide and seek was cheating. At least Sept thought so, he’d been seeking for over twenty-minutes. Were it not for the occasional giggle when he got close to finding him, he’d have thought Ailuros had sneaked out of the apartment. 

“Ailuros,” He called again and heard a quiet giggle from the living-room. There were two places to hide there that the boy would fit in. Under the couch and behind Mavic’s bookcase... Sept checked behind the bookcase first to no avail. But while he was looking, he saw a small foot poking out from under the coffee table. How had Ailuros managed to fit himself under there? It was only a few inches above the ground. It was a new hiding place he’d have to keep in mind the next time they played.

Sept let out a long exaggerated sigh and flopped down on the couch. “I give up,” He said loudly, smiling at a flood of giggles from beneath the coffee table. “Ailuros, I surrender. You’re too good at this game.”

The little boy pulled himself out with another flood of giggles. He looked just like Mavic but for the misty blue eyes and angled mandibles. “You almost found me, pa.” He said, climbing up onto the couch next to him.

“Oh, did I?”

Ailuros nodded his little head and flared his mandibles in a smile. “You almost found me two times!” He chirped. “When I was behind the door in your room and now under the thingy.”

“Coffee table,” Sept said helpfully. “How’d you even get under there?”

“Coffee table.” Ailuros nodded at the words, still smiling. “I got on my tummy and crawled. I’ll show you.” 

And the boy did, getting back down on the floor and wiggling and pulling his way under the low table until only a foot could be seen. Sept blinked a few times, his mandibles flickering. Ailuros was almost too big but he did somehow fit under there.

“Spirits,” He laughed. “Your dad isn’t going to believe me.”


	7. Day 7: Smoke

(the little prequel to an OCtober prompt found [here](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Farchiveofourown.org%2Fworks%2F26753029%2Fchapters%2F65309917%23workskin&t=YzU0YzZhZmM0ZDMwNDQ4NDU1MTUxZTdlMWMzYWQyMmIxMzk5ODM5NSxlYmY4YmYxZTRkM2JiYTVmZGVmMDRlYTQ5MDZiOTU2ZWEzMDhlNGUx&ts=1604754294))

The year of Hastatim: Diluvian Wildlands, Taetrus: 2170

The smoke was thick and black, rising over the outpost to hang like a persistent storm cloud. Mav reckoned in a sense it was a storm cloud filled with resentment and loathing. On one hand, he could understand. On the other, the should have simply surrendered. Wasn’t that preferable to death? At least they weren’t being burned alive but what a small comfort that was.

Fuck. Fuck, this was so wrong. There were other methods, ones that worked. Ones that didn’t end with blood spilled and mass pyres and smoke so thick it easily seeped through the filters of his helmet to choke him. Mav still wasn’t sure how or why he’d been transferred to Hastatim in the first place. He hated it, hated what they were doing here, and he hated that the separatist hadn’t just laid down their weapons when the Commander had ordered them to. Surely it would have been better. No one here had needed to die like this. Several bodies piled together and burned without proper ritual observed. Would their Spirits even find the way home when the bodies weren’t burned properly, when the totems weren’t carved?

Mav thought of the mass graves on Shanxi and gagged. Some how he managed to get his helmet off in time. Hands on his knees, he threw up into a bush, noting distantly that it was one of the few things left not charred. He drank from his canteen to wash his mouth out and spat on the ground.

Fuck, he just wanted to go home. He hated this so much. It was wrong, never mind it had been this way since the Unification War, it was wrong. It felt wrong in his own Spirit, felt like slime that stayed on your hands no matter how much you washed them. He imagined his Spirit becoming a Wanderer for what he’d done here and felt a chill run up his spine.

Mav wiped a hand over his face and rinsed his mouth out again. Movement deeper in the bush caught his attention and his hand automatically settled over the butt of his gun.

“Show yourself and surrender.” He said more firmly than he really felt, drawing the weapon from the holster.

No one stood from the other side of the bush and no one tried to shoot him. Mav’s heart raced.

“Surrender.” He ordered again.

The bush shook a little and Mav nearly jumped out of his boots when two big eyes blinked up at him. 


	8. Day 8: Cavity

Cipritine, Palaven: 2203

Mav grimaced to Ailuros’ swollen grin and the front two missing baby teeth. The teeth were _gone_ , his face was already bruising and bloody, Sept was going to shit a brick when he saw. “How’d you do it?”

“I was chasin’ Calisto up the slide-”

“ _Up_ the slide?”

“Uhuh. We was playin’ and she bet me I couldn’t so I did.” The boy chirped, grinning widely. “I did it like _three_ times ‘fore I falled.”

“And?”

“And I hit my mouth on the bottom of the slide. Where your butt goes, y’know?” Ailuros giggled at that.

Mav snorted too before he could stop himself. Sept wasn’t going to find this funny at all. Not even that new cute little lisp.

“Calisto slided down to help but she kinda squished me and I hearded this loud-” He smacked his hands together “-and then there was blood and Inst’uctor Junia came and put like a bandaid thingy in my mouth and called you, daddy.” 

He was fighting hard not to smile but his little boy looked so pleased with himself. “Calisto okay?”

“She’s fine.” Ailuros nodded. “And she said she was sorry, she didn’t mean to squish me.”

“That’s good.” Mav lost the battle with smiling. “So where’s you teeth?”

Ailuros proudly stuck out his hand and showed him the two tiny and bloody baby teeth in the palm. 


	9. Day 9: Collection

Cipritine, Palaven: 2212

“You dunno what you’re gettin’ yourself into,” Mav drawled, leaning against the doorway of Elysia’s room as Saren packed an overnight bag for his daughter.

“I assure you I’m capable of watching my niece for a single night.”

Mav chuckled. “I didn’t say you weren’t capable, I said you didn’t know what you were in for.”

His sort of brother gave him a sideways look as he folded up a nightgown for the bag. “I would argue that’s the same statement only worded differently.” He mimicked Mav’s drawl a little more coolly. 

He snorted and ran a hand back over his fringe as he shifted on his feet. “She’s a lil’ more wild than Ailuros.”

“She’s a toddler.”

“She’s a whirlwind.” Mav laughed fondly. “Ailuros is a summer breeze by comparison.”

“Have you taken up poetry in your old age, Mavic?” Saren teased him.

“Only if you take up knittin’.” He said and they laughed together at that. “I ain’t sayin’ she won’t behave, she will, just... she’s particular, y’know? You think I ordered this room? Or Sept?”

He gestured to the neatly cleaned room, toys organized by size and color, art supplies organized by function. It was much more tidy than one might expect to see in a toddler’s room. Except for the bed, buried under stuffed animals of every kind and very many blankets. Elysia liked soft things and she was especially fond of soft things she could hold and cuddle. Mav had learned that they were something that made her feel safe and he knew how important that was.

“She’s meticulous.” Saren said with an approving nod.

“She is,” Mav agreed. “And you’re gonna fold up all those blankets and grab Elysia’s lil’ buddies and take ‘em with you if you want her to sleep tonight.”

He got something of a blank stare for that statement.

“I’m serious.” He told Saren. “And if I were you, I’d take a picture just so y’know which lil’ bud sits next to which.”

Saren looked at each stuffed animal in turn. “There are twenty of them.”

“I’m aware,” Mav chuckled. “It’s her collection. She’s named ‘em all, too, but Spirits help me if I could tell you who’s who.” 

His brother sighed. “Is this necessary?” 

“Yeah.” He gave Saren a hard stare. “Like I said, she’s particular. The way you were. Get me?”

Sharply angled mandibles pulled in and a long moment of silence passed. “The tests came back positive, didn’t they?”

Mav’s mandibles worked against his jaw and he looked down at his feet until he got the swell of emotion under control again. “They did. Sept and I... we didn’t realize it had the potential to be genetic. We thought you had to get exposed. We’d have taken things into consideration for her sake if we’d known.”

“Will you send her to a Cabal?” Saren asked and now there was a hardness to his voice.

“Fuck no,” He exclaimed. “Fuck no, Saren. Desolas pulled strings to keep you out of one ‘til you were sixteen. We’re gonna do the same, or longer if we can somehow swing it. Between mine and Sept’s ranks...we’ll figure somethin’ out.” He ran a hand over his fringe. “I just thought... I just thought she should spend some time with you, too. Not just her pa. He can’t be objective right now and honestly I can’t either. But you can. Tease me ‘bout poetry all you want, Saren, but you’re the mountain when Sept’s the river. She’s gonna need that. She needs to see both.”

Saren picked up one of the stuffed animals, some facsimile of a human animal that he didn’t quiet recognize. “How should we transport them?” He asked. “If she’s truly as I was, I’m sure she has a preferred manner.” 

Mav flicked his mandibles in a grateful smile. Saren, when he felt the need, could be sweet. “Why don’t you go ask her? Bond a lil’ y’know?”


	10. Day 10: Scar

Blackwatch HQ, Palaven: 2193

“You really haven’t shown anybody?” Sept asked, sitting on the side of the bed and leaning on his hands, his mandibles quirked a little. He’d obviously thought it was a joke.

Mav fiddled with the tail of his uniform shirt, untucked but not unbuttoned, not yet. They’d hit that point and then the nerves hadn’t gotten to him. “The docs have seen,” He said at length. “Crassus and Saren were there when it happened so they saw it fresh, but... but nah, I haven’t really shown anyone.”

The biotic flicked his mandibles a little wider. “So what? You just keep your shirt on when you’re intimate with someone?”

Color darkened his throat and he rolled his head on his shoulders. “I er... haven’t... been intimate with anyone since it happened.”

Sept’s mandibles jumped. “Mavic, that’s like six whole years ago.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said shortly, the color on his throat darkening. “For almost two of ‘em I was healing from it. Then I went active again, y’know, then... I just ain’t felt the need.” He’d had his heart shattered when the boy he hadn’t realized he’d loved had been murdered, of course he hadn’t felt the need even when he’d been healed.

Sept sat up all the way, his expression slowly changing from playful to serious. “Are... are you sure this is something you really want to do? With me, I mean, not just to cross a bridge you need to cross.”

Mav drew his breath in with a hiss, staring at him. “I’m sure. And I’m sure I wanna with you. Just, y’know, been a while and... and it’s ugly, okay?”

“Well being gutted isn’t pretty.”

He snorted, fiddling with his shirt tail again. “No, no it wasn’t.” He glanced up at Sept, held those misty blue eyes of his. “Y’know I like you a lot, like _a lot_ , and yeah I wanna cross this bridge and get it over with not just to do it but cuz I’m ready to. Ready to with you. Just... y’know, nervous, yeah? And I reckon a lil’ worried...”

“Why worried?” Sept asked, head tilted and mandibles hanging loose.

“It’s dumb.”

“Mavic.”

It was dumb and childish and he didn’t know why he felt that way when he’d never been self-conscious about his body before. But Sept was already so important to him, the way that boy had been all those years ago and Mav found the truth spilling from his mouth. “...I want you to like how I look naked. I know last time we ran into each other we never got that far and it’s not like you can compare new me to old me but...yeah.” 

Sept gave him a blank look. “How is that dumb?”

Mav shrugged helplessly. “I dunno, feels dumb.”

“It’s not. Of course you want that. I want that too.” The biotic flashed a careful smile and gestured him closer. “Mavic, I don’t care all that much about looks. Aesthetically, sure, but I already think you look good. Like _really_ good, you get me?”

He flicked his mandibles, stepping closer until there was almost no space between their bodies again. “I get you,” He said with a careful smile of his own. “Thanks.”

“So nothing to be worried about.” Sept smiled at him, taking Mav’s hands from the end of his shirt. 

“Not with you, nah.” He hummed, the smile growing a little more confident. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone like you, Sept.”

“Aren’t you a charmer?” The biotic teased, pulling him down to kiss.

Mav purred against his mouth. “So you want me to get it over with, huh?”

Sept chuckled. “Oh, totally.” He winked.

He leaned down to peck Sept’s mouth again. Then Mav started unbuttoning his shirt, half tempted to hold the sides closed but in the end he shrugged it off his shoulders and tossed it aside. The scar began just under his keel bone and ran all the way to the top of his groin plating. A deep and discolored line with ragged edges despite all the surgeries and reconstruction he’d had after the fact. Mav had little to no feeling in the surrounding skin but when Sept reached out to touch him, he felt the heat of his palm.

“I almost can’t believe you survived this.” The biotic said, meeting his eyes.

Mav’s mandibles worked against his jaw. “I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Crassus. He found me quick and stopped the bleedin’, got me an evac...” He should call him sometime and thank him again. “But you get why...?”

“I get why.” Sept said, leaning forward to kiss the scar and then standing to kiss his mouth, sliding his arms around him. “You’re really brave, you know that?”

He blinked and his mandibles fluttered wildly. “What? Nah.”

“Shut up, you are.” Sept kissed him again and then again. 


	11. Day 11: Silver

Arterius Estate, Palaven: 2195

“I’m gonna ask Sept to be my mate.” Mav told Desolas, waiting with his chest tight to see how he’d react to that. Not badly, he knew, but it was still hard to guess.

The aging admiral paused with food half way to his mouth and the lowered the fork back to the plate. “You are?”

“Within the year or sooner.” He said with a bold flick of his mandibles. “If he’ll have me.”

Desolas flicked his mandibles right back. “I believe that he will.”

“Yeah?” And now Mav was smiling widely.

“Yes.” He took that bite of food, watching him across the length of the table.

“Y’know somethin’ I don’t?” 

Desolas shook his head minutely. “No, but I’ve watched you two together. It’s clear how much you care for each other.”

“I love him,” Mav said and that smile just got wider. “Like really. I love him so much. He’s just... yeah, he’s perfect in every way. I dream ‘bout... havin’ kids with him, y’know? Reckon I should mate him before that happens.”

The admiral chuckled softly. “That’s the traditional process, yes.”

“Right,” He laughed too. Traditional, something he usually wasn’t, but in this he wanted to be. “So er... I need... a mating gift and I was thinkin’ since I don’t really have any heirlooms from my family in that regard, that...er...”

Desolas inclined his head in understanding. “I have my parents stones,” He said. “You may have a few of them. I would like to save some for Saren should he find his mate, too.”

Mav nodded a few times. “Right, right, makes sense.” He said. “...Thank you, dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny bit of a weak entry, mostly because I overslept again and now have to start getting ready for work. I'd intended to describe the stones but like small and polished and probably silver in color is all I've got lol.


	12. Day 12: Caught

Outer Hierarchy Space: 2189

Mav hadn’t ever worn cuffs in _this_ context before. Usually he liked how they bit into the thin skin of his wrists, the firm pressure at the joint of his hand when he struggled against them. In the right situation- a little ambiance, a certain mood- cuffs were fun. 

This wasn’t that kind of situation and he wasn’t having any fun with the cuffs. For one thing, he wasn’t naked with a lover playfully tormenting him. For another, the arresting officer had no Spirits’-damned sense of humor or personality. 

Mav was starting to get annoyed. Really annoyed. What the fuck was taking the big guy so long to bust him out? “Don’t reckon I could have some water?”

“No.” The officer said tonelessly.

“What ‘bout a snack? I could stand to eat a lil’.”

“No.”

Mav exhaled hard out his nose. “Y’know you’re wastin’ my time as much as yours. Told you already I’m Blackwatch.”

“You did tell me. You also couldn’t provide any proof of that.”

“I dunno, officer. I reckon you runnin’ my DNA and shit is proof ‘nough.” He said dryly, mandibles slanted. “And I bet it came back as classified information. Meanin’ one of two things, yeah? Either I’ma Spectre or I’m Blackwatch.”

“Or that the sample was corrupted.” The officer said simply.

“You wanna swab my mouth again?” Mav shot back, huffing and jerking his bound wrists again. “You could at least take the cuffs off. You ain’t my type.”

_That_ got him a reaction. A narrowing of eyes and a drawing in of mandibles. What a boring prude, Mav thought. 

“I think you know exactly how many weapons you were carrying. Without any proper ID. You’re dangerous.”

“I am that.” He inclined his head. “Also told you my omnitool was on my ship. And I told you were my ship was docked _and_ where to find my partner. Who will absolutely collaborate my identity.” 

“Until your partner is located and can properly identify you, you will remain here. Cuffed and secured.” Officer Boring said in that same toneless way again.

“For Spirits’ sake,” Mav muttered and sank into the chair, leaning his head back on it. “You’re puttin’ a real damper on my night, y’know?”

The officer had nothing to say to that but it didn’t matter. The door behind him opened and another officer stepped in with Crassus in tow. The big guy still had on his matte black armor and he towered over everyone else by a solid two feet. The room suddenly seemed a lot smaller. Mav grinned widely at him.

“Hey there, big guy. You wanna identify me for these gentlemen?”

Crassus arched a brow and let one of his mandibles flick outward. “Gentlemen, you have Blackwatch Special Operative Mavic Virim-Arterius in your custody.” He said simply. “Why?”

Officer Boring was staring and Mav couldn’t help but laugh a little. The big guy, between the sheer size of him and his Invictus colony tats, had that effect on people and it was always great to watch. The other officer was careful to give him a wide berth as he crossed the room to un-cuff Mav.

“We’re sorry for the confusion and the inconvenience Sir.” He muttered. “I’ll take you to retrieve your weapons and then escort you out.”

“Thanks,” Mav said as he rubbed his wrists and then smoothed his shirt down. Officer Boring he forgot about as soon as he was led from the room.

Crassus walked beside him and leaned down. “What did you _do_?” He whispered.

He shrugged and grinned at the big guy. “I reckon they just don’t like you tryin’ to pet the fish in the fountains.” 


	13. Day 13: Burn

Blackwatch HQ, Palaven: 2193

Sept’s mandibles were clenched so tightly along his jaw that they almost vibrated. He couldn’t believe what he’d done. Biotic discharges weren’t uncommon, even the accidental kind, but after more than a decade, he’d thought he would have more control than he’d just shown. Grabbing Mavic like he had, burning him with the power in his palms...

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather someone in the medbay do this?,” He said and peaked at the Operative, stuck for a second staring into those bright orange eyes as he carefully soothed the burn with a cool wet cloth. Spirits, the small agent would _never_ want to go on a date with him now, not when he’d just seen how careless he could be, not that Sept was brave enough to even ask him despite all the flirting they’d been doing.

Mavic hissed through his teeth at another pass on what had to be extremely sensitive skin at the moment. “Nah, nah. I’m good, just a lil’ seared.” He flashed a toothy smile. “You’re doin’ alright.”

“I am so sorry.” Sept told him again, like he had when he’d grabbed the agent’s arm during their sparring and sparks had flown between them. Literal sparks, biotic discharge was a lot like an electrical shortage and a burn left a pattern like a lightning strike on the skin. He could already see it forming on Mavic’s arm. “Really, Mavic, I’m so sorry.”

“Not the first time I’ve had a biotic try to cook me.” Mavic flashed him that smile again. “I’m okay, Sept.” 

His mandibles fluttered. “I swear I have control of it.” He said, still working almost absently with the cloth. “I almost always have control of my biotics. I don’t randomly try to cook people.”

“I know that,” Mavic told him, head bent to watch and Sept noticed a faint lightning strike pattern along the side of his neck. “My brother’s got control like you wouldn’t believe, but he’s accidentally thrown me a number of times and tried to cook me a fair few, too. Though-” He laughed. “-that wasn’t _always_ accidentally.”

“...I keep forgetting you have a biotic brother.” Sept murmured. “That you’re used to this sort of thing happening.”

“Not a lotta people know.” The small Operative said in return. “He’s my brother but he’s not, y’know? I’m adopted. It’s Virim-Arterius, not just Virim.”

“Oh.” His mandibles fluttered again, not sure how to reply to that. It wasn’t one of those things that was a big deal, just something he hadn’t known.

“Anyway, yeah, I’m used to biotic accidents.” Mavic continued. “I even kinda like the burn patterns they leave behind, y’know? Aesthetically, I mean, I think they look neat. And the gettin’ burned don’t even hurt that bad. Not compared to say... bein’ gutted.”

“I’m sorry,” Sept couldn’t help the glance at Mavic’s stomach when he said that, he knew the smaller turian had been gutted and he’d somehow survived it. Still, his mandibles had jerked in again at the guilt of burning him. He’d been careless, had felt an emotional response to their skin meeting and just-

“Sept.”

He looked up at Mavic with his mandibles wobbling faintly, and to his surprise the Operative cooed lowly at him and leaned closer.

“I’m okay,” He said again and closed that little bit of distance. Sept didn’t know how he avoided a shower of sparks when Mavic kissed him, but he guessed it was all about control. 


	14. Day 14: Wild

Cipritine, Palaven: 2214

“Daddy! Daddy! Uncle Saren’s here!”

Mav hated to admit it, but Saren was probably his daughter’s favorite person. Just the way she smiled and lit up whenever she saw him, how totally excited she became and how she always asked to visit him... Yeah, he wanted to be Elysia’s favorite but he couldn’t really blame her choice. They’d bonded over heir biotics, a little like she had with Sept, and he was grateful for it even if that meant they weren’t quite as close.

“I know, baby.” He smiled and followed the whirlwind of wild energy to the front of the house where Saren had already let himself in. It made him unspeakably happy to see his sort-of-brother kneel to hug his daughter. “Hey, Saren.”

“Mavic,” He inclined his head as he stood again, Elysia holding onto his hand.

“Just droppin’ by for?”

“I thought it was time I saw your new home for myself.” He said with a minute flick of his mandibles.

“Uncle Saren you have to see my new room!” Elysia said and already she tried to pull him in that direction.

Mav smiled again. “Yeah, you better. Then we can sit and chat if you wanna.”

“Yes, we can-”

“Come _on_ , Uncle!” Elysia pulled at him harder and there was a single soft flare of bright blue. “Ooops! I’m sorry.”

“Take a deep breath and center yourself again, Elysia.” Saren told her in a patient tone while Mav stood there with his mandibles tight to his jaw. It was just a moment and she had done what she was told and was smiling again.

“Now can I show you my room?”

“Of course you may.”

Mav breathed easier. Those little biotic accidents were happening more frequently but thankfully they were still small. “Y’all do that and I’ll get some lunch goin’.”

It was some time before Saren joined him in the kitchen, after a bunch of excited laughter and a few loud bangs. Mav stood at the counter prepping a meal, cutting up some veggies and fish and then a few pieces of fruit for Elysia. Saren came to lean beside him.

“She’s had a eventful week.”

Mav snorted a laugh. “Oh yeah, she loved movin’. Helpin’ to carry in boxes and all that. You shoulda seen her slidin’ half of ‘em across the floor, puttin’ her whole body against ‘em. It was great. She’s excited to do our decoratin’ for us, too. We told her she had to leave her brother’s room alone ‘til he came back for leave and could help her.”

“I know.” Saren gave a soft laugh of his own. “Have you decided on a school?”

“Not yet,” He said and got the veggies in to saute. “There’s two in this district that would be good for her when she starts next year. Sept and I are just tryin’ to decide which one would be better, y’know? We’re lookin’ at a lot of recommendations, pros and cons, that sorta thing.”

His brother nodded. “Let me know should you need anything.”

“O’course.” Mav flicked him a grin, happy for his company and whatever help he could provide. A decade or so ago, he’d have never thought his brother would be as involved a member of his family as he’d decided to be. “O’course.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just got approved for a loan on a house -so very excited omg- so Mav got to move into a new house too lol


	15. Day 15: Beauty

Cipritine, Palaven: 2210

Mav’s heart stopped. Sept beside him, his smile awed, his purr filled with love. An infant in a hospital cradle. With his orange eyes and Sept’s nose... He’d lived this exact moment before in a dream he’d had. Mav linked his fingers with Sept’s and squeezed tightly, his heart beat again when his mate squeezed back.

“She’s beautiful,” He said after he’d cleared his throat a few times, but still his voice wavered. 

Sept squeezed his hand tighter and pressed a kiss to the top of his fringe. “She looks just like you.”

Mav cleared his throat again. “I reckon she does. Rather like you too.”

Sept nuzzled his arm. “I love her already.”

He couldn’t help but smile, leaning on his mate and wondering distantly why his legs felt so weak. He couldn’t remember now if he’d been as unstable on his feet when Ailuros was born or not. Surely he must have been. But... but he’d dreamed about his daughter before, every detail... It felt so surreal now to be living it.

“Elysia.” He murmured and Sept looked down at him with slanted mandibles. “You’d told me if we had a daughter, we would name her Elysia.”

Sept smiled widely at him and leaned down to kiss him. “I did say that.” 

Mav smiled back, so widely his mandibles ached. “Can... can I hold her first?”

“Go for it,” His mate kissed him again. “I’m gonna get Ailuros from your dad so he can meet her.”

“Okay,” Mav pecked his mouth and then shifted to lean into the cradle. Spirits... Spirits, she was only about as heavy as a feather, her entire little body fitting in both his palms. Elysia stared up at him with eyes that matched his own and Mav felt his heart fill with the type of love you only felt for your children. Intense and warm and all consuming. “Hey there beautiful, I’m your daddy. Spirits, it’s so good to finally meet you.”


	16. Day 16: Comfort

Cipritine, Palaven: 2206

“Papa has a headache?” 

“Yes, honey.” Sept murmured, peeking at the little boy through the hand he’d covered his eyes with. “Today’s a quiet day for me, okay?”

Ailuros nodded his head from beside the bed. “I can be quiet, papa.” He chirped. “Daddy left already. He said I had to be good today cuz you felt bad.”

Oh, he felt bad alright. A migraine was nothing to sneeze at and one caused by his amp was awful. His vision was blurred, light hurt and if he moved too quickly, his head spun too. Thankfully, he didn’t get them often but when he did... Spirits, what an awful feeling to wish Mavic had taken Ailuros to his grandfather’s or uncle’s place instead of leaving him home when Sept wasn’t sure he was capable of watching him. 

“I’ll be okay in a little while,” He promised as he pet the little boy’s fringe. “Do you need anything?”

“No, papa.” Ailuros trilled. “I just wanted to check on you. I’m gonna go play. Quiet play, I promise.”

Sept smiled at him. “Come get me if you need me, okay? I’m going to nap until I feel better.”

“Just feel better,” The boy smiled back at him and stood on his toes to nuzzle his fringe affectionately. “Night night, papa.”

“Night night, Ailuros.”

Despite the pain and occasional surge of nausea that went nowhere, Sept manged to sleep. Waking and finding the headache gone, he erred on the side of caught and left his amp sitting on the bedside table. The apartment was oddly quietly, but shortly he heard the tv on in the living-room and just the hint of Mavic’s voice. Spirits, he’d slept the whole day if his mate was already home. The realization had him hurrying out of the bed to check on his son and he almost crashed into Mavic in the hallway.

“Hey there, I was just comin’ to see if you felt up to eatin’.” His mate grinned up at him, letting their bodies brush.

“I slept all day.” And he couldn’t help the worried whine in his voice. He’d left their son alone and unwatched for an entire day. Had he eaten? Had he managed to hurt himself at all? Spirits, was he sad about being left alone?

Mavic tilted his head. “Yeah? You needed it. It’s okay.”

“I left him essentially alone all day.” 

“Babe,” His mate chuckled, taking his hands and drawing him into a hug. “I was here. I dunked out this mornin’ to hit the store and came right back. Was only gone maybe twenty minutes. You were here, just sleepin’, y’know? Not any different than you takin’ a shower when it’s just the two of you. It’s all good.”

Sept sank in against him, so relieved suddenly that he was dizzy. “Spirits Mavic,” He breathed. “I thought... I’d left him completely unattended, I was totally unable to care for him and I thought you’d just left us here like that.”

Mavic rubbed up and down his back. “I wouldn’t do that to you,” He hummed. “I know how bad them headaches can get. I stayed home to watch over you both, no big deal.”

He wrapped his arms tight around Mavic’s middle. “Thank you.”

“Any time, my love.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get a lot of bad headaches and often too. My kids, while a little older than Ailuros at the moment, are very understanding about this. My youngest (10) will come set next to me with her game and headphones and be very quiet and still. My oldest (12) will bring me water and make sure she and her sister have lunch. So that was mostly the inspiration behind this.


	17. Day 17: Wanderer

Hierarchy Training Base, Palaven: 2214

Ailuros’ bunk-mates were sharing stories across beds, their voices low but they carried as each tale was told. Stories of vacations and families, places they’d been, general anecdotes, the usual pastime of trying to avoid sleeping when they all really should be. It would be an early morning again and Ailuros was tired, his eyes drifting closed for moments at a time until someone raised their voice in excitement and woke him again. He sighed out his nose and settled himself to just listening until his bunk-mates finally stopped or until his own exhaustion won out.

They were talking about Spirits now. Soldier’s stories, his dad would say. Temple Palaven had a living Spirit everyone in the room agreed. It could be felt it there when you put your hands to the stones, even when you first walked onto the property, you could feel it. Ailuros had been a few times and he agreed there was a Spirit there too. The base had a Spirit, brazen but muted, not everyone admitted to feeling it. One of his bunk-mates talked about seeing a Spirit when his grandmother had died, but he’d been so young at the time that he wasn’t _sure_ it was a Spirit that he’d seen, maybe he’d only imagined it.

“My dad saw a Wanderer once.” Ailuros said quietly from his bed and everyone turned to look at him.

The two cadets nearest his bed looked between each other, their mandibles hanging loose and their eyes a little wide. “Wanderers aren’t real.” One said.

“They are.” The other insisted. “They’re rare but they’re real. It’s only a Spirit that’s gotten sick.”

“Spirits don’t get sick, they’re Spirits.” The first said and Ailuros struggled to remember her name but he couldn’t.

“They don’t get sick like the flu,” The other gave in. “They get sick like bad things happen in a place, _really_ bad things. My grandfather says Shanxi is one giant sick Spirit because of everything that happened there. If there are Wanderers, they’d be there for sure.”

Ailuros fluttered his mandibles. “My dad saw the Wanderer the night before Shanxi happened.” He said and got even more stares for that. “He was seven, he’s sixty-four now but he remembers, he says it’s somethin’ you can’t ever forget.”

“Isn’t your dad Cabal?” The first asked and a few other other cadets hissed lowly at the insinuation. 

Ailuros sat up and flashed his teeth in warning. His pa, sister and uncle were all biotic and he wasn’t going to allow even the _hint_ of that type of xenophobia from his unit-mates. “That’s my pa. My dad’s Blackwatch.”

She made a dismissive gesture and Ailuros finally recalled her name. Nova. He didn’t think they were going to get along, but she had backed down.

“What did he see?” The second asked and Ailuros noticed she wasn’t the only person giving him their complete attention now, more than half the unit was staring at him.

He cleared his throat. “He was riding home with his dad,” Ailuros said. “It was night time and snowin’- dad’s from Carthaan- and he had this feelin’ like he was bein’ watched. He saw the Wanderer outside the car, like it was followin’ them.”

“What did it look like?” Nova asked, her tones full of challenge. 

Ailuros had to fight not to bare his teeth again. “He... he didn’t see it all that clearly-”

“Of course he didn’t.”

“-but he said it was big as the trees and black. That it was formless like it was made out of smoke.” Nova snorted at him and this time Ailuros did bare his teeth. “You can ask him yourself if you don’t believe me. He’s teachin’ the CQC class this year.”

“Wait wait wait.” Another cadet near his bunk said. “You _dad_ is Instructor Arterius?”

“Yeah,” Ailuros blinked. “Well, it’s Virim-Arterius, but yeah.”

“Shit dude.”

“What?”

“ _My_ dad recognized him when he dropped me off.” The cadet said. “Do you guys know what they called Instructor Arterius when he was active Blackwatch? They called him Mayhem.”

Ailuros blinked again, Dad didn’t talk about when he was active Blackwatch all that much. “Oh, yeah, dad’s not been active Blackwatch since my sister was born though, and before that he’d been transitionin’ to Instructor anyway.”

The other cadet was shaking his head. “If he says he saw a Wanderer, I believe him. The Blackwatch sees things no one else does.”

“Dad was a Special Operative,” He said, leaning back on his bed again. “He’s been everywhere in the galaxy.”

“Shit,” The other cadet whistled through his teeth and flicked his mandibles in a small grin. Ailuros grinned back. 

Slowly, his bunk-mates made their way to their own cots and the room quieted. Nova climbed into the bunk above his and Ailuros stared at the underside. He tried not to think about Wanderers but as his eyes finally slipped closed, he couldn’t help but wonder what one actually looked like and if he’d ever know for certain. Ailuros was sure that he didn’t want to know. 


	18. Day 18: Protocol

Hierarchy Outpost, Thracia: 2181

“Surrender your biotic amp.” It wasn’t a polite request and Sept shrank back from the security officer.

“I can’t.” His voice cracked and broke, frayed at the edges like his nerves when the command was repeated. “I can’t. I don’t have an amp.”

Sept tried to explain that he’d only just discovered he was biotic. He was still in a hospital gown for Spirits’ sake with fresh stitches along the edge of his fringe. He’d fallen and struck his head when the first sparks had started. The stitches itched and the sparks were sporadic, bringing with them a smell of burnt sand. Eezo scent, he’d never known before what it smelled like. Sept had never met another biotic but he’d heard the stories about the Cabals. All turian biotics were sent there. Secluded, locked away and driven mad by their growing powers. Or tortured. Spirits, he’d heard the Cabals tortured people. That they stripped away the colony colors and name and everything that made a person who they were until there was nothing left.

He was hyperventilating again, terrified of what awaited him and the officer with his hand on his gun. Sept held up his hands and hunched his shoulders, trying to look small and nonthreatening but the new sparks were jumping all over him like an active electric current.

“I don’t have an amp.” He said again and he could hear the way his own voice shook. “I would surrender it if I had one. Please don’t shoot me. I’ll cooperate however you need me to but I don’t have an amp to surrender. Please just don’t shoot me. I can’t control this, I don’t know what to do, please just don’t shoot me.”

Sept kept repeating the plea even when the doctor came back and offered their own explanation. Even when he was roughly turned to face the wall, his hands caught behind his back and secured with biotic dampening cuffs that sapped away all his strength and energy. Even when he was marched out through the hospital to a waiting transport and shoved in the back like a criminal. 


	19. Day 19: Pirate

Mav’s Ship, Outer Hierarchy Space: 2186

“Fuckin’ Spirits,” Mav muttered, staring at himself in the little mirror. He looked a lot younger without his colony paint, almost like he was in his teens again and with the nondescript dark clothing and a gun hanging off his hips in an old-fashioned holster, he looked very much like a kid playing dress-up. He sure as hell didn’t look like an undercover Blackwatch agent but he didn’t _quite_ look like a Terminus pirate either.

“Fuckin’ Spirits,” He muttered again, clicking his tongue against his teeth in thought. There wasn’t much else he could do to blend in. There was no way in hell he was going to paint his face Terminus white. For one thing _gross_ and for another the only colony color he was willing to wear was orange. Maybe blue but he was Carthanian, not Palavenian. And fuck, barefaced was the way to go even though washing his face clean with no intent to reapply the special paint made his skin crawl. 

Mav lit a cigarette and turned away from the mirror to head to the cockpit. He needed to get moving, he couldn’t keep putting this assignment off any longer than he had. Supplies had taken time, retrofitting the ship to blend in had taken a lot of time and finally convincing himself to actually strip his paint off had taken an _uncomfortable_ amount of time. It was just color, true, but it meant so much more to him than that. Orange was all he had left of Carthaan and yeah, his eyes were orange too, but they weren’t the right shade. Carthaan orange was special. He still got mad when he thought about the flippant way his CO had ordered him to wash it off. The fucker. Like he didn’t know _exactly_ what it meant to do that.

He dropped his spent cigarette into a cup of water beside the ships’ console and swiped his hand over the haptic interface. Felt the ship come alive beneath his feet. All systems green, Mav set the course and made himself comfortable on the seat. He had to pretend to be a pirate for the foreseeable future, it was time to get into the right mindset. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up til this point I keep forgetting to mention that Mav smokes. I think it's something he picked up in the Blackwatch but I haven't really decided. By the time he and Sept mate, he's quit, but I still keep forgetting to mention it.


	20. Day 20: Bullet

The Year of Hastatim: 2170

“Would you like to keep it?”

Mav’s head tilted down toward his chest and a little to the side. “Keep what now?” He asked, still groggy after the surgery.

“The bullet we pulled out of you.” The surgeon explained patiently, holding out a hand for Mav to see the almost unrecognizable bit of metal.

He flicked his mandibles, blinking a few times, his vision a little jumpy and for a second it looked like there was two of them. “You already got it outta me?”

“Yes, Agent Virim.” The doc said. “You’ve been in the recovery room here almost a full day.”

“Huh.” He clicked his tongue against his teeth. A full day? Shit. “I don’t remember y’all putting me to sleep.”

The doc gave a quiet chuckle. “Most patients don’t.”

“Nah, I reckon not.” He flicked his mandibles again, leaning back against the pillows. Spirits was he ever sore. And tired. He was really damned tired. “Anythin’ I should know?”

The surgeon shook his head. “No. It wasn’t any trouble to get out, nothing vital was hit or damaged. You’ll have full functionality in that shoulder and heal up fine in a few weeks.”

Mav nodded his head, pleased with that. It really could’ve been so much worse and he knew he’d gotten lucky. “I reckon I would like to keep it then. It’s my first one after all.” He turned the little bullet over between his fingers when it was dropped into his hand. For such a little thing, it sure had hurt. “You throw ‘em out if folks don’t keep ‘em?”

The surgeon gave another shake of his head. “No, I keep them. I tag and store them. You never know what bullet started or ended another chapter in history.”

Mav quirked his mandibles at that. That... that was actually pretty neat. “Keep this one then. I’ll probably just lose it and like you said, you never know, yeah?”


	21. Day 21: Forgotten

Cipritine, Palaven: Sixth Anniversary of Shanxi: 2163

“Desolas?” Mavic cleared his throat, swallowing down the lump and wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. 

The general was bent over some work at his desk, looking between a scattering of datapads and back again. He didn’t seem to have heard him.

“Dad?” Mavic tried again and that got his adoptive father’s attention finally. He felt his mandibles wobble as their eyes met.

“What’s wrong, Mavic?” He asked, spinning around in the chair to face him fully.

“I-” He had to clear his throat again, coming a little more into the room, a little closer. “I was wonderin’ if... if you had... if you had any pictures of my parents? I just... realized what day it was and... and I wanna... see them.”

Desolas’ mandibles fell loose along his jaw for a moment and he glanced down. “I hadn’t realized.” He murmured. He turned back and reached into a drawer of his desk. “Have I never... Hmm. Do you not have any pictures of your own?”

Mavic wiped his eyes again and shook his head. “Nah, I don’t. I thought maybe you might but if you don’t...” If Desolas didn’t, how was he ever going to remember what they looked like? Spirits, how had it taken him this long to realize that he already didn’t remember them?

“I do have a few pictures of them.” The General said quietly. “They were under my command a number of years before Shanxi occurred.” 

“Yeah?” He hadn’t known that but of course, he’d been too young to know.

“Yes. You mother had command of the ground troops. Spirits, she was a force of nature. And your father was a gifted combat engineer, did you know that? .” Desolas turned back to face him, holding another, older style datapad between his hands.

Mavic shook his head. “I remember he told me him and my mom were reserves, so they could have and raise me.” He said. “Then...”

“Then they were ordered back.” The General said in that same quiet, almost guilty way. “The Primarch at the time ordered every able-bodied soldier to return to the Homeworld.”

“We learned that in class.” He said and sat slowly on the floor, looking up at Desolas. “My teacher said it wasn’t needed, not really. We had the humans outnumbered and we had more resources.”

Desolas inclined his head. “We did.” He agreed. “We had the numbers and the firepower, we had reliable lines of supply, but only because the Primarch ordered everyone back.”

“Would we have won if he hadn’t?”

“I don’t know, Mavic.” The General hummed in a tone that said he wasn’t willing to go into detail. “It could have gone either way had the Council not intervened.” 

Mavic let it drop, running a hand over his face and back the length of his fringe. Desolas offered him the datapad, turned on now and showing an image of a turian couple maybe in their late forties holding a tiny infant between them. They were both on the smaller than average size, their faces painted with Carthaan orange and they were smiling widely. Mavic felt his mandibles jerk in tight to his jaw and his eyes grow wet. They looked like strangers to him, they _were_ strangers to him.

“Why can’t I remember them?” He demanded in a tight voice.

“Seven is... very young.” Desolas told him softly, with understanding tones of shared sorrow. “Saren doesn’t remember our parents either. Though I was older when they joined the Spirits, I struggle to recall their faces, too. Their voices I don’t remember at all.”

Mavic wiped his eyes on his sleeve again and swallowed hard. “I don’t either.”

“I’m sorry. That’s something I can’t give you.”

He scrolled through the pictures of the old datapad. Desolas had more than a few of both his parents together as well as tiny baby him and some of just his mother. “...Desolas... Why... why did you adopt me after they...? Did... did you just feel responsible or...?”

The General cleared his throat now, glancing away. “Your parents understood that they might not return from Shanxi. By the time we got there and saw everything, possibility became reality.” He shifted a little in his seat. “High ranking officers are always first in line for emergency extraction should it be needed.” He took a deep breath. “Your mother and father knew that so we agreed that if the worst were to happen, that I would take you and raise you as my own.”

“Why?” Mavic asked again.

Desolas couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Why?”

“There was time, Mavic, that your mother and I were very close. Then she met your father and they were right for each other in ways that we weren’t.” He said very, very softly. “When they mated, they were truly one Spirit. I was happy for them. For her, mostly, though your father was a good man.” 

Mavic’s mandibles fluttered and flared. “...Did you love her?”

“I thought that I did.” Desolas told him. “But when I saw how your father loved her, I knew I wasn’t meant for her and that she wasn’t meant for me.” He gave Mavic a soft smile. “You’re the best of both of them. They live through you even if they’re gone.”

He had to wipe his eyes again, the tears falling fast and hot and Mavic sniffed, trying not to outright sob. “I... I’m sorry to bring all this up.” 

The General lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. “You don’t want to forget them, I understand.”

“Nah, nah I don’t, but now I know you won’t let me.” He got up off the floor and moved closer to the man he’d been calling dad for the last few years, and hugged him tightly. 


	22. Day 22: Storm

Cabal Training Facility: 2181

Sept had lightening-strike scar patterns up and down his arms. He still needed to stop thinking about it like electricity. It wasn’t like that. Sure, eezo smelled like an electric current and it was capable of ripping you apart at the molecular level with a single shock. But it wasn’t like electricity. Biotics were much closer to water if you knew how to use it right. Sept was still learning.

He’d learned how to let it flow. How to let it fill up his cells and then will it to spill out like a sudden deluge. Sometimes -often- Sept could make it happen on purpose. A flood of power would race up his spine to his shoulders, flow down his arms and collect in his palms to crash and break against whatever he aimed at. Biotics were like the ocean; wild and turbulent with an unfathomable depth of sheer power. The little that he had learned was equivalent to a rain drop and he knew he would never master the storm.

Sometimes... sometimes, he was the storm. When the hurricane built up inside him, when his cells over-saturated and the floodgates held _too_ well and when it burst outward, it could only be called a torrential downpour. When he was the storm, all Sept could do was ride it out and hope for the best, hope no one was swept away but himself. He was terrified of being swept away by more power than he could yet control. Sept didn’t want to hurt anyone, he didn’t want to be the cause of unmeasurable destruction, he just wanted to survive to see daylight again. 


	23. Day 23: Perfection

Cipritine, Palaven: 2210

He found Mavic asleep in the corner of the couch with his arms around Elysia asleep on his chest. Ailuros curled up against his side, head on his dad’s shoulder and one of his hands resting on his sister’s back. Sept smiled warmly, leaning down to kiss Mavic’s fringe as he passed by. His mate blinked sleepily up at him.

“Hey,” He rasped. 

“Hey,” Sept said in return, his mandibles spreading a little wider, a little teasingly. “Long day?”

Mavic grinned all lopsided. “Nah, not really. Just a long nap time, I reckon.”

“Naps are great.” He chuckled and leaned on the back of the couch, stroking over Elysia’s tiny fringe and then Ailuros’, purring under his breath with affection.

Mavic pressed a soft kiss to the inside of his arm. “I was gonna cook us supper again but I seem to be a lil’ trapped.”

Sept snorted a quiet laugh. “Well... I could put her in the crib? If we let Ailuros nap too long, you know he’ll never sleep tonight.” 

“Mmm, I know,” He murmured, shifting about to lift the boy’s hand off the baby’s back. “Ailuros, hey, time to wake up.” 

The boy sat up immediately, blinking wide eyes and rubbing at them. “Oh, wow I fell asleep.”

“We all did,” Mavic gave a quiet laugh as Sept reached around him and lifted Elysia off his chest, cooing to her. “You didn’t have any homework, yeah?”

Ailuros shook his head. “Nah, did it all in class.”

“Good, good.” He said. “Go take your shower and get ready for bed while your pa and I cook, okay?”

“Oh, so now I’m cooking with you?” Sept teased to his mate’s wink.

“Elysia still gets to sleep though.” The boy said, standing and stretching.

“Babies need more sleep. All they really do is sleep.” Mavic said as he got up and stretched too, patting the top of his son’s fringe. “Go on now.”

Ailuros did, giving Sept a small hug on his way to his room and his shower.

Sept adjusted Elysia a little in his arms. “She is out like a light.”

“Mhm,” Mavic smiled at him with his hands resting on his hips. “ _She_ had a long day. Turns out she’s not a fan of eatin’ the solid food but she sure did like to throw it.”

He barked a laugh before he could stop himself and when Elysia gave a whine and squirmed, he cooed at her again. “Mavic,” He scolded with a grin.

“Hey now, I’m whisperin’.” He stood on his toes and rubbed their mandibles together. “Go lie her down before you wake her up.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Sept murmured and pecked Mavic’s mouth. “See you in a sec.”


	24. Day 24: Unrequited

Cipritine, Palaven: 2193

“Can I ask you somethin’?” Mav murmured into the dark of the room.

“Ask away.” Sept murmured back, a purr in his voice but felt more through his chest.

“...you ever been in love before?”

That purr hitched a little and Mav regretted the question. Love, he’d learned, was something of a sensitive subject with a species that typically mated for life. You had to be _sure_ and sometimes you just weren’t. He’d learned how painful that could be and he assumed most folks did too. But Sept... Spirits, he was already so important and Mav already loved the biotic. Had already told him so.

“Before you... not really.” Sept said after a long time. “I’ve had lovers, obviously, and people I cared a lot about, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in actual love before.” He shifted onto his side. “What about you?”

Mav fluttered his mandibles. That was the obvious question, wasn’t it? “Er... A... few times.” He finally answered. “But not like this. With you. I mean, I haven’t loved anybody like I love you before.”

“How’d you love them then?”

Yeah, his mandibles were fluttering hard and fast now. Years later, one love was still so hard to talk about. “The first was just that kid love, y’know? You wanna spend every moment with them, experience all the firsts with them but you’re too shy and nervous to. And it ain’t deeper than that. There’s no future plan, hell you don’t even talk ‘bout what you’re gonna do tomorrow, you just do it.” 

Sept settled an arm over him and Mav curled a little closer.

“The other he... I didn’t know ‘til I had his ashes in my hands.” He mumbled lowly. “And lookin’ back, I’m not sure I loved him. I just wanted to give him better than what he had, y’know? He wasn’t in a great place and I wanted to fix that for him. He... didn’t want me to and that life cost him his.”

“...I’m sorry.” Sept’s fingers ran smoothly up and down his back and Mav shifted even closer, their faces next to each other on the pillow. Close like that, he could smell eezo on Sept’s skin and the scent that was just his own beneath it. 

He brushed their foreplates together lightly. “But I know with you.” He whispered because it was still too large a thing to speak of loudly. “You don’t ever leave me to wonder if what I feel is real or not. I know it is.”

Sept kissed his fringe and then his mouth. “I don’t wonder with you either.” He said. “With you there’s this... instant connection, this pull to be with you, touch you... To plan for a future.”

Mav smiled against his mouth, relieved. “I feel that pull, too.” 

“I’m glad,” He said. “Really, really glad.”


	25. Day 25: Peace

Cipritine, Palaven: 2212

Sept flopped down next to his mate with a long drawn out sigh. “She’s asleep.”

Mav snorted into his pillow. “Spirits finally.” He said. “Was it just me or was she a lil’ extra clingy tonight?”

“She was a lot extra clingy tonight.” He murmured. “Wanted a story from me and her brother and night-night kisses and to be tucked in a hundred times.”

“I almost feel left out that she didn’t want any from me.”

“Elysia knows it’s hard for you to get around with you ankle all busted up.” Sept told him, rolling onto his side and leaning into his hand. “How’s that feeling now?”

“That heatin’ pad helped a lot, but I tell you what, I’m real grateful for them pain pills.” Mav chuckled and threw an arm over him. “I’ll be walkin’ fine in a day or two then I can take over bed time duty again.”

“If I survive it another day or two,” Sept drawled and flicked him a grin.

“C’mon, it’s not that bad.” Mav stroked his fringe with a gentle hand. “You’ll miss it when she’s not clingy. Hell, I already miss Ailuros not wantin’ to hold my hand everywhere.”

He sighed again, smiling. “I know. The second they’re not under my feet, I miss them.”

“I do too.” He smiled softly and pulled Sept closer to kiss.


	26. Day 26: Spirit

Arterius Estate: 2196

Resplendent, that was the word. Beautiful, Mav could say that too. Gorgeous was another, but he kept coming back to resplendent. Sept... Spirits, in the traditional cloak, his face -for the ceremony only- painted with Thracia’s magenta markings that just make his mist colored eyes stand out and glow, he was... Everything.

His hands were shaking but Sept’s were too as they met and held together, biotic sparks jumping between them. Mav smiled up at him, made a joke about their shared nerves and got a wink in return. It was a good kind of nervousness. That kind where your heart galloped forward instead of away and those fluttery critters in your stomach weren’t avoiding digestion but just gathering together in a frenzy of excitement. Mav felt a little faint but Sept squeezed their hands together and he was stable again.

The vows came easily after that, the words not tumbling out of his mouth as much as they climbed up from his very soul. He loved Sept, truly, and giving the oath to always care for him and seek the best for him was as honest and heartfelt as could be. In Sept’s voice as he repeated the oath back, Mav could hear the same sentiment. He’d never believed in that meant-to-be kind of love before, but he knew as they pressed their foreplates together, as their Spirits reached for each other, that he had found it in Sept. And that Sept had found it in him. When it was all said and done and the ceremony finished, Mav knew their Spirits had joined to become one, he could feel it as tangible and real as Sept’s hand in his. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost feel like this one is a little lacking bc I don't have many/any headcannons regarding turian marriages.


	27. Day 27: Heirloom

Cipritine, Palaven: 2112

Mav read the doctor’s report again. Then again. Sept stood behind him and read over his shoulder while gripping it so tightly he felt his talons digging in. Mav wasn’t sure either of them were breathing as they processed the information together.

After too many long minutes, he powered the datapad down. “She’s only two,” He murmured. “That’s... that’s so young. Too young, right? Saren was older than that. You were.”

Sept’s talons were _really_ digging into his shoulder. “I didn’t know it could be passed through genetics,” He said in an almost whisper, tones full of surprise and something like guilt. “I thought... I thought you had to get exposed.” 

“I thought so too,” Mav reached up and loosened his hand, linking their fingers together instead. “Saren was before Desolas adopted me and every biotic I’ve known since then...” He shrugged helplessly. Why hadn’t they been told it was a possibility, he wondered.

His mate keened in the back of his throat and leaned down, wrapping tight around him in a desperate hug. “What...” Sept cleared his throat. “What do we do now?” 

Mav slid his arms around him and just held on. “I dunno.” He said finally. “I’ll call Des, I’m sure he’ll have some idea. It can’t be anythin’ like when they pulled you off Thracia, not with Elysia bein’ just a toddler.”

Sept squeezed tight around him. “I won’t let the Cabals take her away.” He said firmly even with that keen in his tones. “I won’t. I don’t care what I have to do, I won’t.”

“I won’t either,” He promised and his voice was hard. 


	28. Day 28: Hero

Cipritine, Palaven: 2213

Elysia was hollering from her room again. High-pitched and pitiful, Ailuros was pretty sure it wasn’t a play noise. Not _totally_ sure but _pretty_ sure and he should probably check either way, being tonight’s babysitter and all. That was cool, he was perfectly content walking away from his homework for a little bit, even if it meant walking into his sister’s organized chaos.

He peaked his head around the door-frame and spotted her little feet sticking out from under the bed, kicking all crazy against the floor. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Stuck!” She chirped and kicked her feet again with a single pulse of biotic blue.

“How’d you get stuck under the bed? You’re tiny.” 

Elysia wiggled out and flared her mandibles at him. “Not me. Ori is stuck.”

Ori? It took Ailuros a second but then he remembered that was favorite stuffed animal number 3. High on Elysia’s favorites list and he was pretty sure Ori was a fish... It could also be a pyjack. Elysia had so many stuffed animals that he wasn’t sure but he knew they were all _super_ important to her and a stuck one was a precursor to a meltdown. He absolutely couldn’t handle a meltdown without dad or pa home to help.

“Alie! Help me, please!” She whined. “I can’t reach him.” 

“I’m helpin’, Spirits.” He gripped the bed-frame since he absolutely wasn’t going to fit under it. “Okay, I’m gonna pick it up but you gotta grab Ori fast, yeah? Real fast, Elysia. Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Okay.” Ailuros planted his feet and lifted. “Spirits fu- ah that’s heavy. Go!”

Elysia dove down under the bed and tossed a bunch of things out behind her before she darted out with Ori in her arms. Ori who was apparently a long-limbed hanar. “Got him and all clear!”

He let the bed drop back to the floor, stretching because yeah the bed had been really heavy and he should probably not tell pa he’d done that. “Ori isn’t hurt or nothn’, right?”

She shook her head, nuzzling down on the thing. “Nope.” 

Ailuros patted the top of his tiny sister’s fringe.“Good. Let’s... try not to drop him back there again, yeah? He was really hard to get to.”

“I won’t. Thank you, Alie!” And she surprised him with a tight, biotically charged hug. Elysia, much like Uncle Saren, wasn’t a hugger and it was a second or two before Ailuros bent to hug her back. 


	29. Day 29: Escape

Colony of Parthia: 2196

“Mavic...” Sept breathed, his eyes wide and mandibles hanging as he looked out the window of their shuttle. 

His new mate twitched a smile. “Yeah?”

Parthia was one of Palaven’s first colonized worlds, a jewel of a planet and homeworld to the current Primarch. The whole planet was crystal clear ocean and tropical with a scattering of islands and sweeping structures connecting them. He’d never seen anything like it, never imagined anything close to it.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Ain’t it?” Mavic smiled wider. “I’ve always wanted to come here and I figured... it’d be a great spot to celebrate at, y’know?”

Sept leaned down and kissed him softly. “You seriously come up with the best surprises.”

He blushed, his mandibles fluttering. “What? Nah.”

“You do,” He insisted and pulled Mavic into a hug, nuzzling down on his fringe with a happy purr. His mate purred and nuzzled back. “You really, really do.”

“Okay, sure, sure.” Mavic leaned on him as the pilot announced they’d be landing soon. “So... so I found a lil’ place on the beach for us to stay in. Nice lil’ escape from the city spot relatively close to one of the piers but still private enough for... y’know.”

“Oh?” Sept flicked his mandibles in a teasing grin, eyeing Mavic up and down.

“Yeah y’know.” He laughed, still blushing. “Spirits, I love you.”


	30. Day 30: Magic

Cipritine, Palaven: 2216

“Magic.” Elysia nodded her head, orange eyes bright and attentive to the swirl of biotic power between her pa’s hands.

“Not quite,” Sept said with a little laugh. He was trying to be serious and _teach_ and while he’d never seen his biotics as something magical, he could understand why a child might. It was the easiest association for a young mind. “Well... okay, I guess it is a little like magic.” 

Elysia flashed him a toothy smile.

“Put your hands together like mine,” He directed and showed her again when the power had slipped away and left his hands empty. “Make a little bowl but relax your fingers, extend them... Good.”

She was finally fully recovered from implant surgery, strong again and back to her old her self. Sept couldn’t be more grateful but now... now it was time to focus. The biotic implant had given the eezo in her cells something to latch onto, something to work with other than attacking her own system as it burned hotly through her. They- he and Mavic- had been afraid for months that it would eat through her before the implant finally began working. Now that it was, and now that Elysia was healthy, they could begin teaching her how to use and control her biotics.

“Okay,” Sept hummed. “Now close your eyes. Can you hear how I’m breathing? Try to match it. Slow in and slow out...”

He listened to make sure but like every new thing to be learned, Elysia followed the directions perfectly. Without exaggeration, no more or less than what she was told, and with biotics training, it was the perfect approach. 

“Good,” He praised, smiling. “The breathing is important, it’s how you find and keep your center.”

“My center?”

“Your control,” He corrected himself. “It will make sense, I promise.”

“Okay pa.”

Sept smiled again. “So you’ve found your center and I’ve found mine. Can you feel your magic? It’s like... a weight inside, a pressure. For me, I feel it across my shoulders and in my arms. It could be different for you.”

Elysia flicked her mandibles here and there, her head tilted in thought. “I think I feel it there too.” She said after a moment. “Like... like a ball rolling back and forth.”

He nodded. “It does feel a little like that sometimes,” He agreed and it was another perfect metaphor to teach with. “Can you make the ball roll into your hands?”

“How do I make it do that?”

How indeed? It was so hard to teach when he didn’t even have to think about the action anymore, it was muscle memory now, but soon it would be for her too. 

“You close your eyes again and picture the ball. It’s small and blue now and it’s full of water so it likes to roll,” Sept said, his eyes opened to observe. “Picture it rolling across your shoulders and down your arms. Don’t worry, it won’t fall off, it’s wants to stay with you... Now... see it roll into your hands.” 

He kept breathing, pulling his power forward again as an example, and watched Elysia do the same. She was still breathing in perfect pattern, her minuscule power rising to the surface of her skin and traveling much like a stream to fill her little hands. He couldn’t believe how naturally it came to her...

“Good, Elysia, very good.” He praised. “Now, slowly open your eyes and see what you’ve accomplished.”

She did and those eyes that matched her dad’s lit up along with her smile. “I’m magic just like you, pa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done! Thank you for all the kudos and comments (the one of you that commented on every chapter thank you so so so so much!)
> 
> This has been a great exercise in writing and I'm gonna keep going with December! Check back tomorrow for another month-long daily prompt list following Ailuros and Elysia with occasional appearances from Mav and Sept.


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